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| Founded | 2003 (JetX) 2009 (Primera Air Scandinavia) | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | 2 October 2018[2] | ||||||
| Operating bases | |||||||
| Subsidiaries | Primera Air Nordic | ||||||
| Fleet size | 7 | ||||||
| Destinations | 41 | ||||||
| Parent company | Primera Travel Group | ||||||
| Headquarters | Copenhagen,Denmark | ||||||
| Key people |
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| Employees | 1000 | ||||||
| Website | primeraair.com | ||||||
Primera Air ScandinaviaA/S,[3] was aDanishairline owned by Primera Travel Group.[3] It provided scheduled and charter passenger services fromNorthern Europe to more than 40 destinations in theMediterranean,Middle East andNorth America.[4][5] It ceased operations on 1 October 2018.[6]
The airline was originally founded inIceland as JetX, before it was acquired by Primera Travel Group and renamed to Primera Air Scandinavia. In 2009/2010, operations were transferred to a newly founded Danish unit and the Icelandicair operator's certificate was subsequently cancelled. The airline also ownedPrimera Air Nordic, aLatvian subsidiary airline established in 2014.
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Primera Air Scandinavia began as the airlineJetX (IATA: GX, ICAO: JXX) in Iceland.[7] The company was founded in 2003 and received itsair operator's certificate in May 2004. Initially the airline flew a singleMcDonnell Douglas MD-82 but soon added a second one. Between July and October 2004, scheduled flights were carried out ofForlì in Italy.[8] Flights were subsidized by local authorities, but the operation was impaired by non-payment of subsidies and further issues.[9]
In 2006, Primera Travel Group, an Icelandic tourism operator with subsidiaries in several countries, bought a controlling interest[8][10] and Jón Karl Ólafsson was named chairman in 2008.[11][12]
In 2009, Primera Travel Group launched Primera Air Scandinavia as a Danish subsidiary, initially equipped with a single Boeing 737 based atBillund Airport, operated by the Icelandic Primera Air. The same year, Primera Air Scandinavia received its ownair operator's certificate from the Danish authorities to commence its own operations. Subsequently, the Icelandic unit was closed and all operations were transferred to the Danish airline in 2010.[13]
Initially, Primera Air Scandinavia operatedcharter flights for major Scandinaviantour operators, but gradually started selling surplus seats as "flight-only" tickets on some of the fixed charter flights in 2013. The continued success allowed Primera to increase both the number of routes and flight frequency, resulting in a mixed charter/scheduled carrierbusiness model. In late 2014 Primera launched 10 new winter and summer direct flight destinations from Iceland, namely,Las Palmas,Tenerife,Alicante,Salzburg,Malaga,Mallorca andBarcelona,Bologna,Crete andBodrum.[14]
The airline transitioned to mostly scheduled flight operations, although some flights combined charter and regular passengers, and separate full charter flight services were available.[15][16]
In August 2014 Primera Air Travel Group announced the founding of a new airline asPrimera Air Nordic inLatvia, which would be run parallel to Primera Air Scandinavia. Simultaneously, a new Network Control Center was opened inRiga for overseeing all operational matters of the group's airlines. Hrafn Thorgeirsson was appointed as the new CEO of both Primera Air Scandinavia and Primera Air Nordic.[17][18][19]
On 26 October 2014 Primera Air Scandinavia launched weekly flights fromGothenburg andMalmö toDubai (Al Maktoum) andTenerife, fromHelsinki toFuerteventura andLas Palmas. On November 16 the airline commenced a new route fromKeflavik toNew York (JFK) after acquiring rights to serve theUnited States. Later that year the airline started four new weekly routes, which includedAalborg toLas Palmas,Copenhagen toLanzarote viaBillund, as well asAarhus toTenerife andFuerteventura.[20]
In July 2014 Primera Air flew 155,000 passengers in 1,006 flights, with an average load factor of 91%.[21]
The major restructuring and consolidation had a positive impact on the airline. In 2015, the airline operated eight aircraft with a turnover of US$250 million, and earned more than 5.2 million euros intotal revenue before taxes (EBITDA). During the first 8 months of 2016, the airline had earned 4 million euros with an estimate of 7.60 million by the end of the year.
In 2015, Primera Air Scandinavia signed agreements worth 30 million euros with several leading travel agencies inFrance for operating a series of flights with 2 aircraft fromCharles de Gaulle airport to popular holiday destinations during summer.[22][23]
In February 2016, Croatian destinationsDubrovnik andPula were added to the range of flight destinations.[24] In May 2016, the airline commenced regular flights fromBillund toNice andVenice.[25][26] Shortly afterwards, flights toAntalya were introduced. Later that year Primera Air announced the increase in frequency for existing destinations as well as new destinations (Milan Malpensa andRome Fiumicino) fromStockholm for the summer season of 2017, which was done in an effort to strengthen its operations and presence in Sweden and in line with its plans for further fleet and destination range expansion.[27] Later that yearTrieste,Almería andLamezia Terme were added as destinations.
Summer 2017 saw the addition of routes toKalamata,Ponta Delgada andMadeira.[28][5]
In 2017, the airline decided to venture into the scheduled low-cost transatlantic market from 2018. Flights between North America and Europe at the time were a highly competitive market, but adapting low-cost operations on this market did not show any great success for other carriers.Norwegian Air Shuttle, once a profitable short- and medium-haul budget airline, aggressively expanded on the long-haul market leading to large losses.[29]
The long-haul debut was announced in July 2017, and initially consisted of services on six routes fromBirmingham,London Stansted andParis Charles de Gaulle toBoston andNewark. The services were due to start between April and June 2018 using brand-newAirbus A321neo aircraft to be delivered to the airline.[30] In February 2018, the airline announced one additional long-haul route fromLondon Stansted, connecting it toWashington, D.C., from August 2018.[31][32]
The airline also scheduled medium-haul services from the UK, connecting Palma and Malaga from Birmingham and Alicante and Malaga from London Stansted. The routes were to be commenced in April and May 2018, using Boeing 737-800 aircraft.[33] Furthermore, the airline also expanded its 2018 leisure network from Scandinavia with flights toAthens,Kos andZakynthos from Copenhagen, Billund, and Stockholm.[34] Primera Air also announced increased flight frequency for flights to its most popular destinations in southern Spain, and the pricing policy on these routes had allowed it to compete with thelow-cost carrierNorwegian Air Shuttle.[35]
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The launch of transatlantic flights from the United Kingdom and France to the United States in the summer of 2018 was impacted by the late delivery of the plannedAirbus A321neo fleet. In order to commence its routes, the airline had to charter aBoeing 767-300ER fromEuroAtlantic Airways and aBoeing 757-200 fromNational Airlines.[36] Citing delivery delays by Airbus of its A321neo fleet, Primera soon cancelled all transatlantic operations atBirmingham Airport scheduled on or after 21 June 2018. Transatlantic flights to and from Birmingham were expected to resume in 2019.[37] However, in July 2018, Primera Air announced it would terminate all operations at Birmingham Airport by October 2018.[38]
In August 2018, the airline announced two new bases inBrussels andBerlin Tegel for 2019, usingBoeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft. The announced routes were from Brussels toNewark in May 2019, and in June 2019, routes from both Brussels and Berlin toBoston and Washington, D.C., and from Berlin toNew York JFK andToronto the same month.[39][40] In September 2018, Primera announced two more transatlantic bases in Europe to open in 2019; one inFrankfurt and one inMadrid. The routes announced for Frankfurt were toNew York JFK andBoston in June 2019, and toMontréal andToronto in July 2019, while the routes announced for Madrid were toNewark in July 2019, and to Boston and Toronto in August 2019, also to be operated with theBoeing 737 MAX 9.[41][42]
The airline had struggled to run profitably for years, and although the airline achieved a profit in 2017, it was mainly due to the sale of aircraft.[43] The airline also paid over US$20 million to charter orwet lease aircraft due to the late delivery of its Airbus A321neo fleet, alongside other unforeseen expenses.[44] Unable to obtain further financing to accommodate the resulting losses, Primera announced in a statement dated 30 September 2018 that it would cease operations effective 2 October 2018, citing a poor financial standing from the write-off of an aircraft from corrosion, delivery delays of the Airbus A321neo aircraft and resultantwet leasing, and being unable to secure long-term financing.[2][45] The final flight to land was PF596 fromMálaga toCopenhagen.[46]
From April 2018, the airline had canceled some flights; customers said that as of the date of bankruptcy they had not yet received promised compensation.[47] Neither passengers nor employees received advance notice of the shutdown, and many planes were in the air at the time of the decision. Some passengers learned that the airline was shut down while in line to board the plane.[6] Many people, including employees, were stranded at foreign airports.[48]
Despite the bankruptcy of its airline subsidiary, Primera Travel Group continued to operate its various travel agencies and tour operators in Scandinavia but changed its name to TravelCo Nordic in October 2018.[43] Still, the group faced huge losses due to the collapse of Primera Air. 2018 was closed with a loss of 156m DKK. This by far exceeded all profits made in previous years.[49]TravelCo Nordic subsequently folded in late 2020 in wake of the Corona crisis and ceased trading.[50]
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Primera Air Scandinavia mostly operated return flights from its Scandinavian airports to popular holiday destinations along the Mediterranean coast of Europe and Africa, theCanary Islands, theAzores,Madeira,Bulgaria andTurkey, as well as custom charter flights to virtually any destination. The airline maintained seasonal summer and winter selections.[4]
The airline had launched transatlantic operations from April 2018, connectingFrance and theUnited Kingdom toCanada and theUnited States.
At the time of closure, the airline had served several routes, but further announced long-haul flights from Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, and Madrid never commenced.
Primera Travel Group's airlines were criticized for working conditions and alleged social dumping. Cabin crew working for the Primera Air Nordic unit were recruited through recruitment agencies, with the staff mostly originating fromRomania, but based in Scandinavia. Wages were significantly lower than standard Scandinavian wages, and employment contracts included very limited payments in the event of illness and lacked paid vacation leave.[51]
At the time of bankruptcy and cessation of operations on 2 October 2018, the Primera Air Scandinavia fleet consisted of the following aircraft:[52]
| Aircraft | In service | Orders | Passengers | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Y | Total | ||||
| Airbus A321LR | — | 2 | 16 | 182 | 198 | Originally launch customer.[53] Were to be leased fromAerCap, with deliveries in 2018.[52][53] |
| Airbus A321neo | 5 | 1 | 16 | 182 | 198 | 6 were ordered, but only 5 were delivered.[52] |
| Boeing 737-800 | 2 | 1 | — | 189 | 189 | 1 was due secondhand fromAir China in 2018 but was never delivered. |
| Boeing 737 MAX 9 | — | 18 | TBA | Original order for 16 with 4 purchase rights, with 2 purchase rights exercised.[54] 8 were to be leased fromAir Lease Corporation.[55] Deliveries were planned from November 2018. | ||
| Total | 7 | 22 | ||||
At closure, there were seven aircraft registered to Primera Air. A further seven aircraft were registered to subsidiaryPrimera Air Nordic, whose operations were fully integrated into those of the parent company.
Despite financial woes, Primera continued its ambitious expansion and accepted aircraft deliveries, with a Boeing 737-800, registered OY-PSJ, as the final aircraft to be taken into service. The aircraft commenced revenue services on 20 September 2018, just eleven days before the airline folded.[56] Further aircraft destined for the carrier were in production at the time the airline folded, including an Airbus A321neo that was fully painted and a Boeing 737 MAX 9 that was partially painted in Primera's livery.[57][58]
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Media related toPrimera Air at Wikimedia Commons
